We left for Villefranche on our looking at campsite’s day and started in Villefranche at a site which is quite nice for an overnight stay or perhaps two nights if you want to be almost in the town. The site was well equipped and it was getting hotter by the minute as we walked around. We got in the car and it showed 32 degrees centigrade and slowly crept up to 34 degrees. We stopped in Limogne for a beer and croque monsieur (ham and cheese melted sandwich). This was the little café that we used a lot when staying on the farm just up the road for several years and it was nice to have a return visit.
We then headed for the camp sites near St Cirq –Lapopie another small town which clings to the side of a cliff. It is great but not as great as the town of Rocamadour. St Cirq was very busy with all the car parks full and therefore it’s almost time for us to leave this fair land. There are two sites here and neither of them we would stay at as they seem very crowded. It was now about 36 degrees as we got back to the site. We read for a while and then headed down to the pool for a quick swim and in the meantime the sky was changing from a clear blue into very dark and cloudy with thunder rumbling time to get out of the water.Then suddenly the sky almost exploded. The wind came roaring down the valley at about 30 to 40 miles per hour combined with extremely heavy rain which then turned into hailstones with thunder and lightning and it looked like the site would get blown away. The storm lasted for about an hour and then started to ease up. The site roads were beginning to get flooded and some tents began to give way under the wind and rain. The rain stopped for a while and then about 8.20 pm it started with large hailstones and heavy rain again. They do say in this part of the world that if the temperature rises too quickly it brings the storms and it was certainly true here. A couple of trees gave way and one blocked the site entrance. Our Dutch neighbour’s tents got almost flattened and their outdoor kitchen was awash. An English couple down the road blamed it on the fact that they had just washed their car that day for the first time in weeks.
As we said earlier, it’s strange weather!
Later Noel went up to use the internet and found the Gazebo had been blown away and everything else was saturated and so no internet. Perhaps tomorrow when the weather is better-we hope.
UPDATE- Well the storm came back again at around 10.30pm and again with heavy rain, thunder and lighting. The sky was almost awash at times with lightning as far as the eye could see. It seemed to finally pack it in around 12.20 and then the Dutch groups in their tents surfaced and compared notes for quite a while and you could tell by the nervous laughter they were also very glad the storm was over.
The French family across the site from us in their home made caravan (for want of a better word) must have got saturated as when it went up I watched this home made contraption and wondered where the water seals might be. Tomorrow we should no doubt be finding out. Please watch this exciting story of camping in storms for an update on events.
